Lingering Goodbyes
by VictoriaFirewraith
Summary: AUish. Even when she was young, Lucy was always afraid of her sister dying. Even now she is older and married, she is still worried. Being married into the Dragneel family where she doesn't feel accepted, she finds out a secret of this strange family. Some NaLu and a bit of NaLi in the end. Oneshot, based off another story with similar name


I think…the thing I'm most afraid of, is losing my older sister, Michelle. My parents had died when I was younger, and she was the only one who wanted to take me in. There were several times when I was younger, that I would cry out in the night, just having a dream where she died and wailing about how I didn't want my sister to die.

She would rush in and comfort me, saying that she'll never die and leave me. Even so, I was unable to get rid of that unease…

I once dreamt that my sister turned in a doll that I took cradled into my arms. Even though I treated it as my only treasure and played with it every day…it was soon abandoned and thrown to the bottom of a toy chest. After a period of time, the doll disappeared…..

* * *

People sat among rows of tables, some in their finest clothes. A few chattered with other people, while some got drunk.

A normal, yet wild marriage ceremony has been the norm for the Dragneel family.

I danced in the middle of the floor with my new husband, Natsu Dragneel. With a small smile on his face, I thought this was bliss.

Since it was just my sister and I, I decided to live with my husband at his family home. That night, I had dinner with my new family. We sat by a large square table where two people can sit on each side. Natsu sat on my left. His parents, Igneel and Grandine, sat opposite us. While his grandparents, Makarov and Porlyusica, sat next together on the left side of the table. Natsu's little sister, Wendy, and her cat, Carla, sat on the right side of the table.

"Mother-in-law, Father-in-law, Grandpa, Grandma. Please take care of me from now on!" I said to them, bowing slightly.

"Hmm…" Igneel grumbled, but the rest seemed to ignore me.

"Hi Lucy! I'll be calling you big sis from now on!" Wendy said cheerfully. Carla mewled beside her.

"T-that will be fine, Wendy," I replied to her.

My husband, Natsu, chose to marry me against his family's wishes.

* * *

"Cheer up Luce! I'm sure they'll accept us soon," Natsu said cheerfully as we walked down a hallway. We walked past an open door, revealing two more elderly people, "These are my great-grandparents, they couldn't attend the wedding because of their frail bodies,"

"Oh,"

Natsu stepped into the room, "Great-grandma, Great-Grandpa, this is my wife, Lucy," he waved his hand, gesturing towards me.

"Please take care of me from now on,"

The two slowly turned their heads, but said nothing and only stared. I wasn't sure if they noticed my presence here.

* * *

The next evening, I heard laughter coming from the living room. As I stepped closer to the door, I could hear my new family's conversation.

"HAHAHAH Wendy you're so strange!" Grandine laughed. Wendy, the grandparents, and her parents were sitting in the living room, laughing about something.

"Dad! Stop laughing at me! You too mom!" Wendy shouted cheerfully as the rest laughed. I felt lonely and decided to go search for Natsu.

This house was fairly large for any normal house. I continued to walk down the same hallway where the Great-grandparents rooms were, when I glanced into an open room to see someone standing there.

"Who's there?" I cried shakily.

The persons head turned to reveal a very old man's face, but that wasn't the thing that freaked me out. I was able to see through him.

"AH!" I screamed and fell backwards. I shuffled back till I realized I was by the great-grandparents rooms.

"Ah, Great-Grandma, Great-Grandpa! T-t-there's a G-ghost…," my eyes widen as my sentence trailed off, as I stared at them. They were faded looking and I could see right through them. They too were ghosts.

I got up quickly and ran off to find Natsu. I later found him in our room, there I mumbled to him about what I just experienced and he just shook it off.

"Lucy, they were not ghosts," he explained.

"If it wasn't a ghost, then what?" I murmured, "even after taking a closer look at your great-grandparents, they too…"

"The one you probably saw, Lucy, was great-great-grandma," Natsu replied.

"G-great-great grandma?! How old is she?!" I yelped.

"125," Natsu said calmly, taking off his clothes to put on pajamas.

"125! …wow, what a ripe old age," I muttered.

"Seems like you haven't met everyone yet, My Great-uncle and Great-Aunt are still around," Natsu told her, "Even though they are quite faint and could disappear, if you look close enough you can still see them,"

"D-disappear?!"

"Great-Great-Grandfather and his mother used to be here, but they have already vanished,"

"What happened to them? Why they disappear?!" I exclaimed.

Natsu watched me carefully before answering, "It's because they're just lingering afterimages,"

"After images?" I asked slowly.

After that night, I've looked more closely at the people who lived in the house, figuring out that more than half of the household are after images. At first, I tried to avoid most of them, but I gave up and went around like everything was normal and I soon got used to them.

* * *

A month later, Grandpa Makarov had passed away. All of the living relatives came to honor his passing, even Michelle came. I recognized her as soon as she came past the gate. Her brown hair was pulled back into a braid and she still looked great in a black dress. She walked over to me when noticed me standing by.

"Thank you for attending, Michelle," I told her as she got closer. She smiled at me.

"Are your new in-laws taking good care of you, Lucy?" she asked.

"Yea…" I smiled up at her, "they're taking good care of me…How is the household?"

"Everyone is good; it's a bit lonely without you though,"

Footsteps came from the adjacent hallway and Natsu appeared, "Lucy…oh Michelle! Thought you left already! Take you for coming today,"

"It's no problem at all! Well Natsu, I'll leave Lucy in your care once again!"

"Don't worry Michelle," Natsu said, "I will," and with that, Michelle smiled at me once more and left. I watched her as she go. Natsu watched me for a few moments before breaking the silence.

"Come on, Lucy, Let's go. The rest of the family is gathering in the main hall, it's about to start,"

Natsu led the way as I followed him. As we entered the main hall, it was filled with many people. At the very front, there was a small table and on it was a picture of Makarov and a vase filled with his ashes. Igneel stood beside the table and so did another man, he was a bit gruffer looking then Igneel and taller.

I pointed at him and whispered to Natsu, "Who is that?"

"Metallicana, my uncle, see that guy with the long black hair? That's Gajeel, my cousin, and the short girl next to him is Levy, his wife,"

Even though I have been married to Natsu for a few months, I still don't know much about his family. I was about to say something else, but Igneel spoke up.

"The wake for my father, Makarov, has come to an end. It's now time for us to start! EVERYONE! Please concentrate your prayers and thoughts on my father! Pray with all your might! Even though he has been cremated, but under our relatives prayers, let him come back in his previous form! Come on everyone!" he spoke loudly to the group.

I could hear Natsu softly grumbling with his eyes closed shut. I also prayed, but maybe not as much as everyone else. My eyes wonder back up to the front where a strange fog started to form and I could clearly see a figure coming too. After a few moments, Makarov appeared in his form and smiled at everyone.

"Dad!" Igneel said.

"Grandpa!" Natsu cheered.

People crowded around him, excited that he was back. People welcomed back and said they were glad he was back. I noticed my skin turned cold as I had just watched what had happened.

* * *

A day later, I decided to ask Natsu more about it.

"It's like I said before, he did not revive," Natsu explained. I had found him in the garden, practicing his fighting skills, "Nor did he become a ghost…"

"Then?"

"It's just a phantom created from our immense concentration that we termed as an After Image. From a scientific view, it shouldn't even exist. We can still talk with them and even touch them, but it's still all an illusion. Even there are conversations; their answers don't go beyond expectations…,"

I let all this information sink in.

"We create the after images to help with their deaths. As the years go by, the after images will fade away. After they are gone, they can't reappear. The most time they get is about 20 years, though Great-Grandma has been here for 25. These extra years have been enough time to say good bye to her," Natsu stopped talking and we sat together in silence.

"Hey, Natsu?"

"Yeah, Luce?"

"Can I ask a favor?"

Natsu glance over his shoulder at me, "When my sister passes away in the sometime future, is it possible to make an after image of her?"

Natsu sighed, "I just knew you'll ask sometime…an after image of your kin is very important to you, but one person cannot do it alone, it requires teamwork…I'll discuss it with my parents tonight, but don't expect much,"

"Thank you!" I smiled at him, hoping everything will go well. It didn't.

* * *

Later that night after dinner, I stood behind the door as Natsu asked his parents.

"What are you saying, Natsu?!" Igneel yelled.

"That's ridiculous!" Grandine exclaimed, "What benefit do we have of making Lucy's sister an after image?"

I felt like I was about to cry.

"Natsu, there's nothing else to discuss about this,"

I entered the room and fell to my knees, my blonde hair covering my face, "I'm sorry! Please forgive me for my selfish request!" as soon as I said that, I left in a hurry to get to my room so no one would see me cry.

The house became dark and Natsu didn't come to see me, which was fine, I didn't want him to see me crying. I hear footsteps coming into my room, but I didn't look up to see who it was.

"Lucy?"

"Wendy?"

I glanced up to see Wendy and her cat, Carla behind her.

"Please don't hate my parents, they actually really nice. Even though they are like this…," she trailed off.

"I know Wendy; it's all because I was being a bit too wishful. I will apologize again tomorrow," I told her as she came and sat down in front of me, "Wendy, you really understand of my feelings,"

"That's because I really like you being in the family, Lucy," she said cheerfully.

"Thanks Wendy, I like you too!" As I leaned in to give her a hug, I noticed Wendy looked faded, like an after image.

Natsu was silent when I asked him about Wendy, "So you've realized…Wendy and Carla had died in an accident ten years ago. Mother wanted it to be real, so we prayed for Carla to come back also. Even though it's only been ten years, they have started to fade,"

* * *

The hallways in the house where dark and the after-images grew bright. As time passes, the great-great grandparents, great aunt and great uncle have disappeared. The after images of great-grandpa and great-grandma have become as light as clouds…

Whenever there is a new death, I always to take part in the ritual to create a new after image. However, no matter what I do, I can never please Natsu's parents…

* * *

One day, I noticed Natsu had forgotten his lunch for work and decided to try to catch up to him and bring it to him. Holding the box tightly, I ran out of the house. Turning around the corner, I noticed Natsu up ahead, just standing there.

"Nat-!" I was about to call out when another women appeared. I didn't see her face, but she had short white hair and wore the same work clothing as Natsu. I hid behind the nearest telephone pole, listening to them as they started to walk off.

"You're gonna make me late again, Lisanna," Natsu said cheerfully as she hugged his arm.

"Sorry, it was my turn to watch my brother's kids,"

The two walked off laughing and felt dread filled within me.

Later that night, I confronted Natsu about what I saw.

"Natsu….Earlier this morning, I saw you with another women,"

"You saw that?" His eyes went wide for a moment, "She's my co-worker….and I plan on marrying her,"

"Marrying her?!" I gasped aloud, "How can you when you're married to me? I won't give you a divorce!" I felt like crying, I thought we were happy.

"There is a way I can marry her without divorcing you," He explained.

"How so?" I felt angry at his words.

"Lucy….you're an after image," he finally said after a moment of silence.

"What, I-I'm an after image? H-how?" I took a step back, I'm after image?!

"It was the day before our wedding; you were struck by a car and died. My parents refused to create you into an after image, so I asked the other members of the family and they took pity on me, agreeing to create your after image,"

After he said those words, I left.

I decided to visit my family's graveyard to prove I was truly dead. There, by my parent's gravestones, was mine. Even though I've been for years now, I was strangely calm. I went back to the house, deciding to leave. I wasn't a very good wife and thought more of my sister then of my husband. As I walked out of the Dragneel house for the last time, I glanced up to see Wendy watching from a window. I said a silent goodbye to her and left.

My old house came into view and I saw Michelle outside watering some plants. She saw me coming through the gate.

"Lucy?"

"Hello Michelle, I'm back,"

I wonder who'll be the first to leave, me or my sister?


End file.
